Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf beat incumbent Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, with the help of a self-funded political action committee, Fresh Start. The PAC later was headed by Katie McGingty, one of his former primary rivals. Now that Wolf is governor and McGinty is his chief of staff he is in office, Fresh Start is no longer in operation and hasn’t been in months.

But that does not mean Wolf has not stopped his use of PACs. He recently started a new PAC, Rebuild Pennsylvania, headed by McGinty’s old campaign manager, Mike Mikus, a Democratic political consultant from Pittsburgh.

Wolf’s creation of the PAC – during budget talks with the GOP-controlled Legislature -- has caused some Republicans to question the governor’s priorities.

On Monday, Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, questioned if Wolf is interested in negotiating an on-time budget with GOP lawmakers or fostering partisan politics through the PAC. Wolf appears ready to let the June 30 budget deadline lapse in an effort to get into a public political battle with Republicans through the PAC, Miskin said.

Megan Sweeney, spokeswoman for the state Republican Party criticized the Waolf PAC, saying, “With just days to go before Pennsylvania’s budget deadline, it appears that Tom Wolf is more concerned about politics than the future of our Commonwealth.”

The governor does not plan to use the PAC as part of his budget neogtiations, Mikus said Monday.

“The purpose of the PAC is so the governor can help elect candidates who agree with his agenda and move his agenda further,” he said.

But by Tuesday, Mikus was talking budget. In an email, Mikus accused Senate Republicans of using one-time budget transfers, reduce pension payments and other accounting methods to close the estimated $1.2 billion deficit as mentioned in a previous Capitol Ideas blog.

“Instead of offering real solutions to balance the budget and fund public schools in Pennsylvania, the Senate Republicans are relying on the same failed gimmicks that created the budget mess in the first place,” Mikus said.

As far as elections go, Rebuild Pennsylvania may need to raise a lot of money.

Republicans picked up a number of extra seats in the House and Senate in the November election and a subsequent special election in the House. Democrats’ historic low numbers in the House then got worse after a few Philadelphia lawmakers left office after pleading guilty to charges stemming associated with taking cash bribes in exchange for votes from an undercover informant posing as a lobbyist.

There are 80 Democrats in the House and 118 Republicans now with five vacancies. Democrats are down to 19 in the 50-member Senate after Sen. Matt Smith of Allegheny County officially resigned for a job in his home county.